Stern favors expansion of legal sports betting

Published 4:33 pm, Monday, September 19, 2016

Former NBA Commissioner David Stern will speak at a Las Vegas gambling conference next week and proclaim his support for the expansion of legal sports betting.

During his 30-year tenure as commissioner, Stern vehemently opposed most gambling on sports, but recently he has changed his tune. He says daily fantasy wagering has paved the way for legal sports betting throughout the United States and that the NBA should go “all in.”

“It seems to be an inexorable march, and it’s time to come up with a strategy that gets the various stakeholders together and see what changes, if any, make sense,” Stern said in a recent phone interview.

When daily fantasy “became a place where people could bet money and make a financial return, I thought that was one of the last barriers to the opposition to legalized gambling on sports.”

Stern, who retired in 2014, will appear next Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Global Gaming Expo in conversation with American Gaming Association CEO Geoff Freeman to discuss how sports betting should be managed in the United States. The AGA promotes the legalization of gambling.

The former commissioner advocates “one set of federal regulations” that applies to all 50 states. “This is a subject that is crying out for federal review of the entire situation,” he said.

Stern also believes the NBA should be compensated for its “intellectual property” for providing the “statistical story,” as well as any logos, trademarks or team names used by sports books or other gaming entities.

Stern’s pro-gambling position isn’t shocking, considering how much potential revenue is at stake. Daily fantasy betting has proved that when leagues get involved with gambling — and let’s face it, daily fantasy sports is gambling — there’s considerable money to be made.

As an aside, I asked Stern what he thought of the belated flagrant foul assessed by the NBA on Draymond Green that caused the Warriors’ power forward to miss Game 5 of the NBA Finals in June. Many Golden State Warriors fans believe Green’s absence turned the series and led to the Warriors’ ultimate defeat by the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7.

“You cannot get me into that,” Stern said. “I’m sure that (Green) did something that the commissioner (Adam Silver) thought deserved punishment, and that’s all I’m going to say.”

The Global Gaming Expo is scheduled for Tuesday-next Thursday, Sept. 27-29, at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas. For more information, go to www.globalgamingexpo.com.